


After all this time

by bloodlineyearns



Category: Devil May Cry
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Dante wants his boy back, Flashbacks, Grief/Mourning, Hurt/Comfort, Jealousy, M/M, Nero is a bit angry, Other characters mentioned - Freeform, Post DMC5, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Three Years Later, au where Nero is a Umbran Witch, credo/nero in the past, dante/vergil mentioned, might continue
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-15 23:48:04
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29444328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bloodlineyearns/pseuds/bloodlineyearns
Summary: Nero is the son of a half-demon and a witch. He didn't inherit a demon side, but thanks to Sparda's blood, his powers as a witch are incredible. Dante and Vergil return from Hell after dealing with a very old enemy, but force Nero to a decision that will have serious consequences. As Nero still grieves the death of his love, Dante returns into his life to mess him up. But this time, Nero is not willing to let go. Not again.
Relationships: Dante/Nero (Devil May Cry)
Kudos: 12





	After all this time

Nero always knew there was something different inside him. Fortuna didn’t welcome his presence as a good one, and Nero never gave the city no love. Only a few people desired him close, Kyrie and Credo were two of them. Credo showed the boy extreme interest in his powers and instead of fearing them, he helped Nero to control them. They were extremely dangerous, especially when Nero was angry (often). But Kyrie calmed him down quickly, and Credo… made him blush and shy away a lot. 

The boy once thought: I can destroy who and what I want. But can I create, or at least heal something or somebody?

It was Credo’s birthday when Nero quietly called him from his little party at the plaza - Credo invited him, but Nero refused as he preferred to stay away from crowds and people who very well knew him and hated him - to guide the older in one of the little alleys in Fortuna. Nero made sure to deal with the filth, in there...demons included. The beasts were very attracted to him for some fucking reason, but Nero always avoided his friends to see the hellspawn no matter what. They were humans. Too young.

“Here,” Nero said, giving a small box made of old paper to Credo. “it’s not much. But my wallet’s empty.” Nero shrugged and looked away. Credo smiled - a rare moment - and then his eyes brightened a bit when he saw what was inside the box. 

A simple white rose. But it was adorned with a vague veil of blue, protection made of magic.

“It was dying and I healed it. It reminded me of the colors of your clothes, mostly always white. It will die when you die, the moment you touch it. It’s a curse I’ve learned on my own and...modified, for you.” Nero explained, his voice low. Almost as he was afraid his creepy shit would push Credo away. 

Instead, one of Credo’s hands reached Nero’s head. Fingers ran through silk strands, long enough to touch Nero’s shoulders.

“And this gift reminds me of your natural colors. Your eyelashes, your hair. It’s beautiful. Thank you, Nero.” 

Credo always had a low, calm voice. He could be strict, especially now that he was going to join, soon, Fortuna’s Order. But he could sound soothing and very sensual, too. It made the witch blush, and those white eyelashes moved as Nero looked at the other. 

“Who knows,” Credo continued. “perhaps, in the future, no matter what Fortuna’s society thinks, this rose will be one of the main decorations of our house? So that when I’m away, you can still have me close.”

Nero gasped. They were so young, and Credo had principles and ambitions. Kyrie was selected to become a Singer of the Order, Credo an apprentice to become Knight, considering his natural skills. Nero was left behind, of course. But not from the brothers. As soon as they could, they made it possible for Nero to attend church, to see Kyrie becoming more and more beautiful and talented, her angelic voice echoing inside Nero’s heart, to train with Credo and sometimes, hide with him somewhere to let the man steal kisses from him. Nero was different, but he had what he needed. He had a family, he had a lover that was going, maybe, to be his man. The beautiful sensations that made Nero’s heart pump stopped when a memory came to his mind.

After Fortuna’s incident, only one of the brothers survived. Nero learned of Credo’s death from Dante, the man that destroyed the start of his dreams. The boy used his magic to track the flower, the beautiful white rose that was gifted to Credo from him. It still had his magic around it, hidden under the ruins of Fortuna, near where his lover moved and lived during his training. The blue veil was still around black, rotten petals, stuck in time and unable to detach from the dead stem. Rotten, rotten, dead, dead. He was dead. He didn’t need to see Credo’s body again, the rose somehow sealed the crude reality inside Nero’s heart, like a sword forever skewered inside it.

Nero was woken up by Nico’s brutal driving skills. He was exhausted after three days of non-stop work, where he decimated a nest of demons that lived in a cave so deep even Nico couldn’t back him up with her truck. It was scary, sometimes. He had to deal with the bullshit in his head; Dante and his father were in hell for three years now. Nero and Nico, with the help of Trish, Lady and the others continued their quest to clean up Vergil’s mess, and it was getting better. Humanity was starting to restore their lives, but sometimes demons would appear out of nowhere, slowing down the recovery process. Devil May Cry was as busy as ever. But in those three days of total darkness and slaughter, Nero thought of many things. Too many. He was stripped of his humanity, as he sucked the life out of the strongest demons only to destroy the insignificant ones. 

Before disappearing from Nero’s life somehow as Credo did, what a surprise, V had told him he was part human. He was the offspring of a half-demon and a witch, and it was extremely rare that a male, healthy witch was born. Perhaps it was the half-demon’s human blood to ensure Nero’s survival, as male witches were rare and very...juicy, for demons.

Later, it was Vergil, reunited with V, to talk to him about his mother. Vague memories of when he was nothing but a teen, almost. The witch was long gone, perhaps alive, perhaps not. But she decided to return to her Coven once she gave birth to Nero, because she couldn’t stand Vergil’s abandonment. 

A Coven. Nero remembered that he was with Nico when one witch approached him, asking him to join her and her group. Male witches were rare and treasured by Covens, because it meant that the women didn’t need to search for a suitable demon to contract with, to conceive a powerful offspring. Nero could be the father of many strong witches, as his blood was hybrid but so strong it made Covens fight against each other for him. Nero liked the woman’s guts, but as usual, he refused any type of new attachments. Especially if it meant becoming a living fuck-machine.

The woman silently accepted his refusal. But Nero knew she would come back, and probably not alone.

Back at the orphanage, Nero and Nico took their time to recover and return somehow normal. The mission isolated both of them, touching their brains in a bad way, and Kyrie had to work to help them out. The kids, the calming place. Nero’s room, cleaned up. The man opened the window to let some air come inside, make him feel alive. Being buried under a cave full of starving demons made him a bit claustrophobic, but it was something that he felt was going to heal. 

It was spring, and Nero watched from above Nico running around trying to catch a kid that stole one of Nero’s arm; he had lost it during the fight against Urizen, but Nico invented for him an implant that allowed him to use different types of offensive or defensive mechanical arms, a fucking cool thing that Nico called “Devil Breaker”, probably connected to the fact that Nero tended to break the arms like it was nothing. He could fight with the enhanced power of a demon that looked like a man, but he couldn’t Devil Trigger like his father and uncle.

He was a witch, mostly. When Nero stored a strong quantity of power, he could summon from hell beasts of incredible power, using his hair as the physical connection to their manifestations. A witch could summon and use their powers to keep the beast under control, but many needed a contract first to avoid getting killed by their own summons. Nero didn’t need any of that shit. The demons submitted to him almost naturally, and who dared to devour him for the Sparda blood that ran in his veins was promptly fucked up by him and his devil breaker. 

Hybrid, but efficient and able to work alone, Nico aside.

Trish taught him some stuff, too, since she was a demon herself. What to do to “sign” a contract with a demon, what to do in case a witch wants to get rid of it before its death. She even found a gigantic book full of old and new spells, rules that still applied and others that could not. it was what Nero needed to learn more about his most prevalent side. The book was always next to his bed, and inside the drawer under it, there it was. The dead rose still blocked in time the moment it died.

Nero never broke the spell on it. As if the flower could somehow return to life and give to the boy the sign that Credo was alive somewhere. Delusions, simple delusions, as he was the one helping bury the man’s cold and stiff body.

Fuck. That last mission messed him up real bad. 

After helping out Nico and handling the children with Kyrie, Nero asked if he could go to rest early. Kyrie nodded, worried, and Nico said nothing, very well remembering how delirious Nero was when he got out of that cave. Covered in gore, filled with demonic energy that he slowly digested and transformed in magic. But for hours, Nero’s had a black aura around him. And Nico couldn’t close her eyes for a second, fearing for the worst, whatever that worst was. 

Nero returned normal - perhaps more powerful, but he was in pain mentally.

Therefore, the girls let him take his time, asking Lady and Trish to work a bit harder to give the man some time to find himself once again.

“Again”, because he was in a similar state when Credo died…  
...and when Dante left to follow Vergil in hell.

It took a while for Nero to first, understand that V was inside Vergil, but technically gone. And two, that Dante, the man that he hated and then started to admire and secretly love, was gone for who knew how long. Maybe forever. Like with Credo. 

Dante never tried anything with him. It was always Nero searching for hugs, light kisses, attention. After Fortuna’s incident, Nero was a brat and acted like one. It made Dante fairly unresponsive, until one day the boy presented himself with his hair short, a new look, a new self - after a month or two of never visiting Devil May Cry like the usual. He had “work to do”, Nero explained at the time. It was true. Demons, knowing Nico, working his ass off for the orphanage and Kyrie and the whole fam.

From there on, Dante accepted that Nero was no longer a “boy”. He would call him that, as usual, but he would hug him, he would kiss him in secret - as Credo did in the past. But it wasn’t because Dante cared about society and shit. Dante smelled different, acted completely different, his voice was different. He was power and pain, he was chaos and control inside one man, a man that held a demon that was soon to become stronger than the Legendary Sparda, a full blood.

Yet, like a joke from Miss Destiny, what was blooming died after the recent disaster.

Nero learned even more about himself. He learned how to forgive, as he acknowledged Vergil. Nero understood. He wasn’t going to talk to his father much, but he understood. There was nothing to say between them, there was a relationship to build, instead, from the scratch.

Nothing of that was given to Nero. It haunted his dreams when he felt mentally weaker when the days were gloomy or he and Nico didn’t gain much from jobs, with the result of the entire orphanage suffering for their failures.

Nero was strong and delicate at the same time. Credo said it to him once. His voice, so distant he couldn’t even remember the tone anymore now, would search him in his dreams to remember him of that day. Credo was kissing Nero’s neck as they hid in Nero’s room, between soft moans and shy touches. 

“You’re delicate and strong like the white rose you gifted me,” He would whisper, so, so far away, when Nero remembered he could feel his warm breath and his soothing voice attached to his ear during that moment. Such a tragic difference.”Pure, as you suck from the earth its energy to use your magic. From demons, from nature; you’re a wonderful and intricate being, Nero. Beautiful. So bea-”

“Nero!”

And the man was awake. Nico screamed one last time into his ears, waking Nero up with urgency. It was night. It was raining. But it wasn’t winter, the damp air making Nero sweat a bit. 

“What the fuck? At least knock first, maybe?”  
“I did, bitch. And called you, many times, but you were into one of your depressive coma-like dreams.” She immediately responded. Nero was about to scold her hard, but Nico had no time for his friend’s feelings. 

“They’ve returned, man. They’re downstairs, thank God they washed and all, the smell was waking up the children. They’re in the kitchen with Kyrie. I came here to tell ya and ditch, I’m not gonna watch your awkward reunion.” Nico moved away, heading for the door that she previously slammed out of annoyance. 

“...still, my van is always there if you need a place to hide, too.”

Nico wasn’t for once joking as she left. Leaving Nero alone, sitting on his bed. He felt a wave of pain and panic. But he gulped the feelings down, touching the drawer as if it held some of Credo’s soul in it thanks to the Rose. There was nothing. No life coming from nowhere but living beings around him. No one could soothe the anxiety that made Nero tremble as he dressed himself to head over to the kitchen.

‘They’ were indeed there. The twins. Dante and Vergil were sitting close, used to stay back to back in hell to avoid being caught unprepared while one of the two was resting a bit.

The closure made Nero feel bitter. But it was a momentary feeling, as his brain understood the situation completely. They were close, now, finally. Maybe too much; witches were sexual creatures as one of their natural traits, as they descended, or so they say, from Lilith, who gave birth to the first witch after falling for the King of Hell, now disappeared since eons. Kinda like Sparda.

Nero could feel when people had chemistry, sexual attraction towards someone, and so on. He could feel many things, but the book helped him close his mind to them. Credo always cuddled him when Agnus perverted feelings pierced his brain painfully. 

Now, he had opened his mind to understand the situation. Kyrie was as soothing as usual. Yeah. When she smiled at him he couldn’t help but smile a bit back. It wasn’t true that nobody around Nero wasn’t able to calm his soul. Kyrie was there. He wasn’t alone. And Nico had her van ready for him if his mind would break for whatever reason, considering its current state.

“I’ve made tea for you too, Nero, serve yourself as you wish. I can leave, if you want.”

“No, Ri. You can s-”

“She can’t.” Vergil cut his son’s words without hesitation. There was silence, and then Dante touched his brother’s shoulder. Vergil didn’t move away like he would’ve done years ago. And Nero felt it again: a strong connection, unresolved tensions, love, lust. 

Shit.

“I’m sorry, Kyrie. But thanks for the tea, we’ll be done in a sec so that you can all go to sleep. Hell, I can almost taste the tension of you all.” Dante said, sarcastic and kind at the same time. He calmed Vergil. It made Nero stiffen up, not used to listening to that voice anymore. It was almost like his brain was already working to forget Dante’s tone willingly, unlike what happened with Credo’s voice. Nero was involuntarily trying to avoid another devastating trauma.

The girl nodded, and as she left, she looked at Nero with her beautiful smile. It’s going to be okay, she said silently. I’m outside, if you need me.

When the door closed behind her back, Nero felt his eyes watering. But he didn’t cry or anything like that, he simply had his gaze red, liquid, as he sat down in front of the twins. 

Nero didn’t look at them. Especially Dante. He couldn’t stomach anything and didn’t touch his cup of tea. But then, he noticed in the air the pleasant smell of ginger. Dante and Vergil were served with tea, indeed, but Nero had a cup full of ginger tea, nothing that could make him more nervous and that would help him with his nausea.

He always felt sick as fuck when he was too nervous. She remembered that.

Nero sighed, calming down a bit. He reached for his tea and drank slowly, feeling the strong taste placating his stomach almost instantly.

“I wanted to wait until morning, but Vergie insisted on coming here the moment we stepped out of hell. Sorry, kid.” Dante was more serious now. He gulped down his tea like it was some nectar from the Gods, and served to himself some more. Vergil was more patient. He didn’t like hot drinks.

“Son, we defeated Mundus. But he still lays alive, as we decided for him a destiny worse than death.”

Nero remained silent. He left his cup emptied on the table, faking confidence as he shrugged, not knowing what the fuck his father meant.

“You, Nero.” He continued.  
“I’m a destiny worse than death for your friend Mundus, now?” Nero laughed, disgusted.

“I ain’t doing a contract with him, if that’s what you two want. Having the incredible, almost unbeatable - up until now - demon lord of my ass, under my shoes? And for what, your personal revenge? I’m family, not your magical psychiatrist.”

Bitterness. Vergil was about to snap - with one of his cruel, cold phrases, but Dante immediately avoided the irreparable. 

“It’s not only for our revenge. We took it by destroying him to a pulp to the point of not being able to stand even now that we’re here in the human world. We took what we wanted, but you could possess an absurd beast by having him ‘under your shoes’. And I know that powerful witches don’t need to fuck the demons they need to have a higher chance of sealing them to their souls.” Dante explained. Vergil, as usual, was short with his words.

“Or, you can summon him and devour his energy until he’s dead. You would still absorb a power you never even saw before, and gain many of his abilities. There’s a reason witches want to contract with powerful demons. Offsprings aside, they can use their abilities-”

“I know what the fuck I can do, Vergil.” Nero cut it out. It made both men look at him in surprise. Nero stood up, reaching for the fridge for some fresh water. He wasn’t trembling anymore, he knew how to keep himself under control. But inside, he was fucking boiling. Hatred? Frustration? Worry? Who knew anymore.

“I never contract demons. They disgust me. Just like you two disgust me right now.”

Nero took a clean glass, filling it with clean water. If only his soul was that transparent and pure, refreshing and restoring. Like Credo was to anyone who needed him, even after what Agnus had done. Credo’s corruption wasn’t really one, to begin with. He had Faith. It was broken, and he immediately reacted following his clean, pure heart. Nero loved his eyes. Sometimes they would stare directly at him, a thin gaze that held respect and lust, love and care. The same that Dante would sometimes…

“I’ll kill the son of a bitch. He destroyed our family, killed Grandmother, a simple human, using his puppets like the fucking coward he is. He felt too important to lower himself to deal with insignificant insects, right? I’m going to suck his life nice and slow until he’ll beg for mercy.”

Nero gulped down his water, then cleaned everything up. Including the twin’s cups and all, pouring the remaining tea in the sink just to make sure that his father and uncle got very well that their presence wasn’t accepted by Nero at all. He wasn’t Kyrie.

“Get the fuck away from here, now. I’ll deal with the rest tonight, contracts have to be done alone with the chosen demon. If you’ll hear from me tomorrow morning, it will mean that it’s all good. If not, prepare for another disaster on earth. But remember,” Nero looked behind his back, and the twins stared at him, almost obedient. 

“there will be no V or Me saving your sorry asses if a summoned Mundus will be able to walk free on earth again, feeding on humans just like Father did three years ago.”

Vergil had a twitch on his face so evident that Dante’s grip on his shoulder became a caress. Nero had hurt him. And he didn’t fucking care, for once. Dante thinned his gaze, confused. 

“Three years?” He finally asked.  
“Yeah, man. I busted - we, busted our asses to clean up daddy’s mess. But it’s still bad out there. You come here in my house after years of absence, without asking what the situation is, without asking how I’m doing, what day it is, nothing. You fucking come here demanding shit and don’t worry, I’ll do it, but not for your sorry ass faces. I’ll do it because My revenge isn’t fulfilled. Got it?”

The sound of broken glass. Kyrie was immediately inside, not because she was so close to hear Nero breaking shit with his fake fingers, but because the man at a certain point was shouting.

“Nero! The kids…” She wasn’t scolding him, she was simply worried. Nero knew that. He knew that, but he looked straight into Dante’s eyes, enraged.

“Then make these assholes go fuck each other elsewhere! I hate the stink of their horny demons more than the ones I fight every fucking day non-stop since He,” And Nero gestured Dante violently. “ruined our fucking life! And he,” Vergil. “returned like it’s nothing after nearly destroying the entire world. Fuck them both,”

“Kid, kid.” Dante said. He stood up and Vergil did the same, silent, unreadable. Probably in pain.

“We’re going. Thank you for accepting our demands despite the complete lack of tact. We didn’t notice it passed so much time, Hell doesn’t have it. Time, I mean. We’re going. Right?” 

Vergil summoned Yamato, nodding. He gave his son a cold expression, but it wasn’t aggressive. He wasn’t good at showing emotions. At that, Nero calmed down. He was panting, he noticed just then that he simply exploded. 

“Yes. Thank you, Nero. We will remain in the area in case you need us.”

A portal was summoned, Yamato slicing time and space like nothing. It made Kyrie jump a bit, getting close to Nero despite the broken glass on the floor. Vergil disappeared first.

Dante stopped midway, looking at Nero with gentle, sad eyes. He still had his long hair, wavy and soft around his beautiful, symmetrical face. 

“I’m sorry.”

He simply said before leaving. The portal closed, and everything returned normal. Like Dante and Vergil were just a vivid dream all along. Nero wanted it to be the truth. But he was sure as fuck that wasn’t a dream. He explained the situation to Kyrie, who was extremely against summoning Mundus, as a normal person would logically think. But Nero felt like he had little choice. The twins fucked up on releasing Mundus from his bounds so that they could kick his ass fair and square. If he recovered, he would surely find a way back to earth like he did in the past. 

As usual, he had to deal with his family’s fuck ups.

\---

There were things in Nero’s world that he couldn’t imagine, no matter what he had seen in the past. The decadent, purulent figure of Mundus emerging far away from the orphanage, but as Vergil said, in the area near it, sent a stench of blood and rotten flesh of infected wounds that could be felt from miles. Entering earth from a Witch’s summon wasn’t like getting into the human world as he desired. Mundus was bound with chains of a strength he could not fight, not now. Not even a moment - for him - before, the twins were massacring him and his ego, and now this … fly, was chanting the usual shit to kill and eat powerful demons they desired.

“My powers… my essence, you will have to fight against them. Against my absolute will of killing the twins and rule Hell. I will not be here, my mind will be gone, but you know. Just like when you felt your father’s will through his Yamato. You still repeat his words like they’re yours, isn’t it? Words of a Vergil that didn’t even come inside a filthy human whore, yet…”

Nero knew not to listen. But he also gathered the info the beast continued to say between hiss and insults and moans of pain. No one was around them, no one disturbed, humans terrified that another Urizen was born, and Nero’s powers making their surroundings unpleasant to step on even for animals. 

“Will Credo ever forgive you for consuming one of the enemies he was so much fighting against?”

Low blow. Nero stopped chanting, his hair long enough to melt into a sea of blackness, a giant pool where Mundus was. An abyss of magic, a portal between Hell and Earth that was big enough for Mundus and only him. 

“Credo became one of the enemies he was fighting against because of his Faith. He was a human, transformed. Like all Knights. He was used, like I will use You and what will be left of your...Resolution.”

Cold. Nero stepped closer, moving his arms to a dark sky. His chanting became obsessively fast, and Mundus cursed as much as he could, moving against those chains, until they squeezed the life out of him. It was disgusting to see the thing melt, its bones exposing, its muscles falling in the abyss of power. As Mundus fell into pieces, Nero swallowed him whole, his hair the channel of his infinite hunger until Mundus was no more but powers and the faint memories of desires Nero didn’t want in his head.

He fought against them for months. it wasn’t easy to use his powers anymore, because he was causing explosions here and there. It wasn’t easy to talk to a human without involuntarily reading their mind or manipulating their thoughts through magic. It felt terrible. Mundus was right: his will of conquering was messing his already suffering mind. Kyrie started to fear him, when he would move in the kitchen at night, unable to sleep. He would talk to himself of horrendous tales that he never accomplished, of plans he never schemed. But after a glass of water all was well.

Yet the girl couldn’t help but call for help.

It was Dante, the one that accepted her request. Vergil didn’t show up, and Nero was glad of that. His jealousy towards his father was fucked up, and now even stronger. Mundus’ tendency to take revenge on everything that upset him became something of Nero as well, and the witch immediately sent a bolt of lighting against Dante when he felt the stench of sex despite Dante’s clean body. 

Kyrie ran inside Nico’s van, and she shut the door. Nero was no longer welcomed at the orphanage for a while. He was too unstable. A truth that Nero understood in silence, as Dante shook his head, standing up. The attack was strong enough to make one of his eyes explode, but in all that blood everything regenerated quickly.

“...you’re coming to my shop, for a while.” It was an order. Nero remained silent and moved towards the stairs, and both of them headed to Nero’s room. 

It wasn’t even awkward. Nero was in his world, gathering what he needed in a simple, old travel bag of his. As he was working, Dante moved his eyes to the giant book on the drawer next to Nero’s bed. He knew he couldn’t touch it: demons were repelled from them since Lilith’s times. Therefore he simply opened the drawers in search of socks and shit to throw at the boy, finding, instead, Credo’s Rose. He knew about the story between the two, but Nero had told him that he had thrown away the memento for ages. And Dante believed him.

“Funny, huh? How I decided to fall for the man that ruined our life.”  
“I did my job. It was a family business, too. A family business that an entire city transformed into a cult.”

Silence. Nero was about to attack Dante again, but his gaze was glowing filled with demonic powers when Nero looked at him.

“Do that again and you’ll suffer the consequences, kid. I get your pain. Now keep doing what you were doing.” 

It hurt. Seeing the Demon Hunter and not Dante, in that instant, making Nero calm down and resume his preparations. Nero had closed his channels towards anyone for an hour, now, and couldn’t feel that Dante was in pain, too. 

They moved into the shop without a word. Kyrie waved her hand, smiling at him with care, and so did Nico, but without much consideration as usual. Both of them were understanding. They needed to stay away, like the kids that said bye to Nero. But no one hated him. He did so much good for others and fell ill for it.

DMC was a pleasant view. Strangely clean, but that was because Vergil emerged from his room in silence. The twins probably lived together, but not for long.

“I don’t want the entire fam reunited here.” Nero said, growling. “I know about you two relationship. I don’t like it. You tend to have this thing of taking things that are mine, father.” Nero gestured his fake arm as an example. Dante rolled his eyes, sighing. 

“Kid, it’s normal between demons -”  
“You’re suddenly a Demon when you gotta explain why you’re fucking someone, huh? But then you want to be seen as a human, with your pizzas and sundaes, when people notice how different your body is from theirs. Fuck off, Dante. Father needs to leave, or you leave. One of the two leaves until I’m good enough to return to my fucking home.”

“Or what?” Vergil suddenly said. His cold words made Nero’s white hair grow slower, as they slithered down his spine under his clothes.

“Or I go fucking insane and die trying to consume you both today.”

Simple as that. Silence, again. Nero retired his offensive stance, but his hair remained long, strands that could almost touch the ground. No longer dangerous, as he grabbed his head to get a grip on reality. Dante remembered Credo’s rose that he had left at the orphanage. He had lost lots of people as well. But he had the fortune of not having to absorb a demon that boosted his negative thoughts God only knows how much. Nero had to be trained, but most importantly, he needed to vent and rest.

“Vergie.”  
“Yes. I care for my child as well. I’ll stay in touch.”

A portal sliced with Vergil’s Yamato, and he was gone. As usual efficient in disappearing like he wasn’t even there in the beginning. Dante suddenly understood why his brother didn’t settle down with the little things he had, preferring to move them into a luxurious hotel he had found near Capulet City. He knew the family needed to reform an order, because Nero wasn’t a demon, and certainly wasn't into sharing his man with another. Father or not. 

If Dante needed to choose, he didn’t even have a second thought. In hell the brothers reunited and fought, fucked, and so on. Their relationship was stronger than any bounds, but it was still...different, from the feelings Dante harbored for Nero. The boy had his similarities with Vergil, sure, but he was a sensitive creature, a delicate flower now able to destroy entire cities if he so desired.

Fuck. Dante forgot how balls deep he was into that damn kid. 

He suspected he was Vergil's son since the Fortuna accident, but he respected the young boy, especially for the loss of his lover. Nero was searching for someone to have close, for someone who would treat him like Credo did, but Dante wasn't the man for that shit. Sure, he was romantic. But he wasn't going all tender and sweet the moment the kid would finally open his legs to him. 

There was something in Nero that attracted even Dante's demon. It was usually not very lustful, more violent than anything else. With the boy around it felt like it was always in rut, searching for the boy to knot and bred. 

But Nero was no demon. He was a witch, a human with incredible magical powers. He had the blood of Sparda making him even stronger, yet he did not inherit any ability as a Demon. And Dante was happy about that. 

The two lived together for a while, Nero helping to maintain the shop decently, cooking instead of always eating pizza, and all that. He also wandered alone at night, talking to himself. Kyrie already informed Dante about the issue, and always kept one eye opened. Until one day his gaze was on the boy, on top of him inside Dante's own room, with his hands around Dante's neck. 

"If I devour you, I'll get more powerful." 

Nero whispered. Dante said nothing, crossing his arms behind his head. 

"Yeah." 

"I could become the king of hell."  
"Nah, you're still human. Witches can stay in hell for a limited amount of time before they start to die like normal humans. You're allowed to access the Kimbo, tho. Between hell and earth and maybe heaven. But that's for another time, maybe when you're not strangling me?"

Dante chuckled. He wasn't scary. Nero's hair growled, white silk slithering on Dante's body like snakes. Nero wasn't in the offensive. 

He was hungry. He wasn't even putting strength into his grip. 

"Absorbing Mundus made you stronger. You're stabilizing. But even without fighting, your appetite became stronger. Nests of demons don't satisfy your need to refill your magic. And becoming a stronger witch…connected you to Lilith, more. Which means…"

Nero sighed. It was a painful sound, as his hair felt like his hands did. His fingers traveled to Dante's hair, still long but clean, combing them, pulling them back as Nero was grinding against Dante's cock. He was trying to restrain a Demon he wanted to sexually consume, lost in his witchy cute world. 

But things go how the witch wants when the Demon is weak. 

Dante's eyes glowed in the dark and he violently growled, showing teeth as sharp as knives. His scent became unbearable for Nero, who rapidly retreated his web and hands, whining low as he touched his crotch with strength. Dante settled the roles immediately: no witch could control or contract or consume him. He was stronger than Sparda, he was the one messing Mundus up without getting touched while his brother had more troubles during the fight. 

Many times witches would succumb to demons too powerful for them. Become their slaves, and worse. 

Yet Dante had no intentions of ruining Nero. He moved a hand to detach the fake arm from the boy's installment. He gently moved away those fingers trying to calm the erection that Dante caused to Nero, making him whine as he slowly regained some of his lucidity. 

"Dante, I'm...I'm hungry, yes. I need someone powerful now. To fill me. But I," So sad. Those eyes, sweet and suffering when Nero wasn't trying to look tough, broke Dante's heart. But I, he said. "missed...you. Thought…I would not see father anymore. Or you, most importantly, like…like it happened with…"

So much pain. Dante pulled Nero towards him, immediately trying to kiss him. He was accepted, and the boy was desperate for love and energy. Such a wonderful hybrid. Dante had lots of energy to share. Maybe too much even for Nero. The kiss became deep, lips onto lips. Nero moaned as he felt something without taste flowing inside him, hot as lava but not hurting. It wasn't human energy, it was a full demonic one. In comparison to Mundus' ancient, corrupted power, Sparda’s overflowed inside him like the pure strength of the sun, and despite being dangerous to…digest, it made Nero come in his boxers in a loud moan. Dante reverted their position in no time, taking advantage of Nero's pleasure. 

So pure, such pure energy coming from a clean heart. No matter what Dante did, inside him... his human side was pure. Like Credo’s, but in Dante’s unique way. Nero sobbed, his eyes releasing tears of old pain.

But Dante didn't stop. Every touch was to refill Nero, to comfort him, to make him think about Dante and nobody else. That Rose was going to be disposed off, someday, because Dante was all Nero needed. He felt like shit for having left his boy alone for so long. Vergil needed him, but he was also an independent man, relationship wise. Nero needed love too, before the emptiness left by Credo would consume his frail mind with all that violence going on outside. Dante was the pillar of both father and son, but he had chosen Nero as his partner, and he was ready to make it clear to the boy.

“...asshole…” Nero whispered. "I felt so alone." 

Dante wanted to ravish Nero, yet he knew...he wasn’t Vergil. Nero could take him, but not after all of what he had to endure. Alone, in his mind, in his personal sea of black tar bringing him down, down, down. 

Dante stripped himself of his clothes, watching as the boy did the same, his blue gaze fixated on him.

“...that’s right, kid. Just me.” Dante growled, returning to push himself against Nero’s body to the point of making him breathless. It was what he needed to feel secure, protected, his lust making him hard again in no time. Dante was bigger in every way, and searched Nero’s lips to kiss him again, needy, possessive. Nero had a hiccup and tried to move away his head, his head spinning, his body warm and full.

“Stop, stop...too much.” He whimpered, gone. Drugged in Dante’s energy, even his eyes turned red, his body trying to absorb and make all that its own power that could barely be contained. As a witch, he felt filled like never before. But as a man...the instant Nero vaguely watched the drawer and Dante forced him to move his head for a kiss. No demonic flow down his throat, but a voracious intent that expressed possessiveness.

How mean Dante was to him, leaving for so long and then taking him back like this.

It made Nero grind how he could against his partner, moving his only arm towards the drawer. Dante watched the boy’s movements like a predator, and his gaze returned more calm when Nero recovered a little bottle of lube. He remembered where some stuff was, still. 

“I waited,” Nero murmured. “you never returned.”  
“I’m sorry, Nero.” Was all Dante could say. Nero looked at him as his eyes were a mixture of blue and red, then purple. Digesting Sparda’s energy was easier because he was a Sparda himself. Nero smiled a bit. Oh, so sweet. Always understanding. Always. 

“I’m very happy you’re back to me, uncle.” 

Nero’s eyelashes were still wet but he had stopped crying. Dante lowered down and kissed him, then his jaw, his neck. He took the lube from the other and worked with it to prepare Nero, who was too tight despite being relaxed, willing. He truly didn’t have anyone for three years. Dante wanted to take more time, to play more, but he had a Demon inside screaming to claim, and he found himself desperate for Nero, too. 

“It’s gonna hurt anyway.”  
“I like when you hurt me.” Nero immediately followed.

Dante growled low, lubed fingers playing with Nero’s hole. He saw the boy arching his back, fighting against Dante’s weight. He lifted himself a bit for that, and gave him air to breathe as his ass was stretched to accommodate a girth that always made Nero scream.

But they decided, that day, to keep it down, they had to reunite and consume their love like a secret hidden behind a special tree. As Nero took almost all of Dante's cock inside, he hugged the man and held him close, brushing his nose against the large neck as he hugged it for dear life. They made a few sounds, but the bed sounded like it was going to break. Nero called Dante, Dante did the same. His silky hair brushed Nero's cheeks as they both came together, and the witch was filled in warm spurts, a load that made his toes curl. 

"Fuck, baby. So tight for me." Dante murmured, lapping like a beast Nero's left cheek. Dante was somehow more feral, now, probably because of his trip in hell. It was hot. It made Nero shiver. 

"...wanna take some more, big guy?" It was almost shy the way Nero tried to seduce his uncle. But Dante seemed to like the thing even more, his eyes glowing in inhuman excitement. 

"You're going to regret this, little witch."

**Author's Note:**

> <3  
> @verrstepes


End file.
